The presence of display screens, touch screens, and the like have become commonplace in modern vehicles. Such screens provide drivers and vehicle occupants with a means to receive information and with a means to exercise control over various vehicle components, in addition to facilitating other activities.
Despite their utility, some vehicle owners may find the presence of such screens in the vehicle interior to be aesthetically displeasing. Additionally, the display screen has traditionally been statically mounted in a vehicle's instrument panel and therefore consumes surface area that could be used for other purposes.
To address aesthetic and packaging considerations, some vehicle manufacturers have mounted movable display screens in their vehicle's interiors. In some examples, the display screen may be mounted on a rail or a track and may slide (translate) out to protrude from an instrument panel when the display screen is needed and may slide in and retract to a concealed position within the instrument panel when the display screen is not needed. In other examples, complicated mechanisms are used to permit the display to rotate in and out of a viewing position. For example, Japanese patent JP10217804, issued to Nissan Motor Company discloses a monitor that is housed in an instrument panel and that can be selectively rotated into position when desired. While this solution addresses the aesthetic concerns some vehicle owners have, it does not address the concerns which arise out of a display screen's consumption of packaging space. As is clear from the figures of JP10217804, the display screen and the mechanism that allows it to move between a stowed position and a display position is considerable, leaving virtually no room behind the display screen for the placement of a storage bin or other user accessible element.
Other manufacturers have gone in a different direction and have pivotally mounted their display screens in the vehicle's interior in a position directly over another feature such as a storage bin. To access the storage bin, a vehicle occupant need only pivot the display screen out of the way. While this addresses the packaging space issue that typically arises when a display screen is included in a vehicle interior, it does not address the aesthetic issues caused by the presence of a continuously visible display screen in a vehicle interior.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a display screen in a vehicle interior that addressed both the above described aesthetic concerns as well as the above described package space concerns. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.